David Bartlett looks back at Liverpool's presence at Shanghai's World Expo
Liverpool Daily Post 17/05/10Business leaders tell city editor David Bartlett we’d have been “crazy” not to go to China
China must create a staggering 25 million jobs annually for the next five years to keep pace with the expected growth of its labour force.
Compare that with the UK where 28.8 million people are employed.
With such high ambitions, China is expected to overtake Japan this year and become the second largest economy in the world.
China’s total gross domestic output was 33.5 trillion yuan (£3tn) in 2009. And it has an annual official growth target of 8%.
This is just one set of figures from a country where numbers and economics take on a whole new meaning – but offer a clue as to why Liverpool is spending six months at the World Expo in Chinese mega-city Shanghai.
Liverpool was just one of a few global cities given the opportunity to exhibit at the Expo.
Two weeks in, its interactive stand is proving a huge success with Chinese crowds and is the most popular city pavilion.
The £1.1m stand boasts a video greeting from Sir Paul McCartney, football, maritime and a 3D film of a Chinese dragon and a Liver Bird flying over the North West.
The showpiece is the film which left Chinese crowds in awe. Fun it may be, but Liverpool hopes to use the expo to attract the attention of Shanghai business leaders.
The city will have spent more than £3.5m in Shanghai by the time Expo closes in October. Its target is to secure six substantial inward investments. And a report estimated the city might benefit to the tune of £50m.
There are four main aims: Secure investment, increase the number of foreign students at the city’s universities, see the number of Chinese tourists visiting the region grow and help more local businesses trade with China.
If those targets are met it will have been £3.5m well spent. But backers say the potential future return could be much higher.
The huge country has a population of 1.3 billion, with only around 400 million estimated to live in relatively affluent areas, leaving 900 million people who are poor and yet to see the benefits of China’s rapid growth.
“The Chinese government is intent that these 900 million people move into a position of being consumers,” said Mike Taylor, director of investment at regeneration and investment agency Liverpool Vision which is leading the World Expo presence.
By any measure that is a huge potential market for UK companies.
He is convinced Liverpool’s decision to take part in World Expo was not only the right one – but that the city would have been mad not to take up the opportunity.
Shanghai is twinned with 70 other cities across the globe. But Liverpool was only one of five invited to the opening ceremony.
“We seem to have moved to the next level,” Mr Taylor said. “You have to keep turning up and showing face. They will then say ‘you are friends, we can start doing business with you’.
“Chinese companies are looking for hard physical investments overseas, property investment is a good one for them.”
Last week the Daily Post reported how Liverpool’s main sponsor, Peel Holdings, held Expo talks with a Chinese firm of architects over a substantial stake in one of the first buildings in its multi-billion Liverpool Waters scheme.
Mr Taylor believes the Expo is also a statement of Liverpool’s intent to truly become an international city again.
He added: “It is also about people being proud. I would love people to think that Liverpool is on the world stage and doing us proud. It’s about raising our game and the appetite to start driving the economy again.”
Jack Stopforth, Chief Executive of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, which helped set up Liverpool’s twinning arrangements with Shanghai in 1999, said the city would have been “crazy” not to take up the offer of exhibiting.
“This happens to be a unique opportunity to raise Liverpool's profile,” he said.
Mr Stopforth travelled to Shanghai with former Wirral West MP Ben Chapman who stood down from parliament at the General Election. He worked in the UK embassy in Beijing before becoming an MP and is advising the chamber.
“There is a lot of good work being done,” he said. “But the potential of China is so massive that you can’t stop doing it.
“You don’t understand China until you have seen it. The world’s centre of gravity is switching to the East. I would encourage anyone to come here and see it for themselves.”
BACK
The Capital, 39 Old Hall Street, Liverpool L3 9PP Telephone: +44(0)151 600 2900
Email: info@liverpoolvision.co.uk